The present disclosure relates to a sealing structure provided in an automobile door made by press forming, and particularly relates to the field of glass runs and seal structures for belt lines.
For example, Japanese Patent No. 3710030 discloses a so-called press forming door including a window frame and a door body portion both made by press forming. The window frame is for supporting a window glass. The window frame is provided with a glass run including a sealing member, which is in contact with a circumferential portion of the window glass. Further, Japanese Patent No. 3746866 discloses a belt line of a door provided with a sealing member distinct from a glass run. This sealing member is provided in the longitudinal direction of an automobile along the belt line, whereas the glass run is provided vertically along the front rim portion and the rear rim portion of the window glass.
For example, some door panels include a window frame having a cross section the shape of which inflates in transverse direction of the automobile such that the cross-sectional area increases resulting in an increased strength. Such a cross-sectional shape leads to difficulties in drawing during the press forming process. If the window frame has a shape difficult to draw, wrinkling etc. is likely to occur particularly on corners of a flange provided on an inner peripheral side of the window frame. For this reason, in some cases, for example a notch having a shape similar to that in FIG. 3 of Japanese Patent No. 3710030 is provided in a corner of an inner peripheral flange of a window frame. However, this notch might be larger than that disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 3710030.
A large notch provided in the corner of the inner peripheral flange of the window frame might cause problems during installation of a sealing member to a belt line as described below. As disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 3746866, a vertical glass run and a horizontal sealing member of a belt line may be provided as separate members. In this case, for installing the glass run to the door frame, the glass run may have a split structure, i.e., may include a lower portion that sandwiches the door panel laterally in order to enable the glass run to be positioned correctly relative to the door panel. Moreover, a covering plate reaching the region below the level of the belt line of the inner peripheral flange may be provided.
The sealing member of the belt line has a U-shaped cross section into which the inner peripheral flange of the window frame is inserted, and this inner peripheral flange includes a corner provided with the above-described notch. Therefore, during the installation of the sealing member of the belt line after the installation of the glass run, an operator might end up pressing an end portion of the sealing member of the belt line further into the notch of the inner peripheral flange than required. As a result, the end portion of the sealing member of the belt line might end up being displaced below the split portion of the glass run. Then, the end portion of the sealing member ends up penetrating the split portion of the glass run when the sealing member inclined downward is installed substantially parallel to the belt line of the inner peripheral flange. That is, there is a risk of improper installation.
In short, the installation workability of the sealing member of the belt line deteriorates if, in consideration of formability during pressing, the corner of the inner peripheral flange of the door frame is provided with a large notch, and the sealing member of the belt line, which is separate from the glass run, is installed after the glass run has been installed.
In view of the foregoing, it is an object of the present disclosure to provide improved installation workability by reducing the risk of installation failures of the sealing member of the belt line in the case where the vertical glass run and the sealing member provided on the belt line are installed separately to the door panel.